wfn.org | Inquiring minds want to know: Mennonites

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-06-17 12:28
Priority: 3
Message ID: EA3EB828D205D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Inquiring minds want to know: Mennonites

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June 17, 1998
Mennonite Board of Misssions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

What inquiring minds want to know about Mennonites

HARRISONBURG, Va. (MBM) - Since early 1997, Mennonite Board of Missions
Mennonite Media staff have fielded questions about Mennonites coming from   

the MennoLink and Mennonite Church General Board web sites in addition to   

general information calls to the MBM Mennonite Media toll-free 800   
number.

Erma Brunk, Melodie Davis, and Sheri Hartzler, Mennonite Media staff
persons, handle the requests.

In the first five months of this year, about 41 percent of inquirers have   
asked
for general information about Mennonites on everything from what are
coverings made out of (from the Washington Post) to what is the Mennonite   

position on endowed churches (Wall Street Journal) to when was the   
Mennonite
church established in North America? Based on the inquiries, 17 percent   
have
wanted the name and address of the nearest Mennonite congregation, while
nearly 15 percent are students (from elementary to university level)   
doing
research.

Some sample inquiries and responses by staff include:
* A student from East Carolina University wanted to know how Mennonites
 differ from Baptists. Brunk used the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite
  Perspective to explain some differences. The student later thanked   
Brunk,
 but wanted an additional "concrete example of what a Mennonite would do   
to
 show loyalty to God over nation or state."
* A woman wanted to know Mennonite beliefs about eschatology (the study   
of the
 end times), because she had a relative who was attending a Mennonite
 congregation and was concerned where it stood.
* A 16-year-old resident of a facility for juvenile delinquents in   
Arcadia,
 Fla., said she grew up very fast and devoted most of her life to sin,   
and now
 wants to change. The last line of her letter was "I am willing to let   
someone
 help me for the first time. Please help me out." Staff sent a referral   
letter
  to a nearby pastor who has made a contact.
* A nursing student from the University of Memphis e-mailed to ask for
 information on a group of Mennonites in the Jackson, Tenn., area. A   
group
 of nursing students wanted to visit and study the community, which they
 thought had a bread store. Staff consulted "MennoLocater," a computer
 software program originated at MennoHof in Shipshewana, Ind., that finds   

 distances to nearest Mennonite congregations by entering a zip code.   
Brunk
 determined they were referring to a group of Beachy Amish from   
Whiteville,
 Tenn. This student wrote back after visiting the group, finding the   
bread
 store, and delighted to learn that their beliefs were similar to her own   
as
 a Christian.
* A student from Miami University in Ohio asked, "Why are there so many
different religious groups that confess to be Christ's today? And if you   
are
following Christ as you say, why do you not call yourself Christ's   
church?
Convince me that this church's method of discovering truth from the Bible   
is
the best and most correct way." Staff used information from the March
conference at Eastern Mennonite Seminary on "Practicing Truth: Confident
Witness In Our Pluralistic World" to respond to the student.

* * *

Melodie M. Davis